Magical Me
by MrsGrint
Summary: Basically this is the first book re-writen including my dazzling new character, Aletta! I know I know... "Ron and Hermione end up together." Not in this story, do you know why? BECAUSE I'M THE AUTHOR (and as you can see by my pen name I LOVE Ron)Ok Enjoy!
1. Magical Me

There I was, between platform nine and ten. How was I supposed to get to platform nine and three-quarters? This being my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I really didn't know what I was doing. Being a muggle born didn't help.  
  
I was your average kid... until my eleventh birthday that is. I was just sitting down to my birthday breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast when an owl started beating furiously on the window. Mom got very scared, but Dad let it in and it dropped a note right on top of the butter and flew out. It was unusually thick and heavy and the address was written in green ink. Mom opened it in case it was some sort of a birthday prank... boy was she wrong.  
  
It was my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, the finest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in all of Europe. EUROPE?!? Why, I live in Illinois! The letter explained that I had much magic in me, and since there were no schools for witchcraft and wizardry in America, I would be going to Hogwarts, right in Scotland!  
  
I looked around the platform, searching for a sign that wasn't there. Then, thank goodness, I spotted a boy who looked equally or even more confused than I was. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and it turned out that despite the odd mix of messy black hair, bright green eyes, and thick black glasses, he was kind of cute! But me, being the outgoing girl I am, wasn't all that fazed.  
  
"Hogwarts?" I asked  
  
He eyed me suspiciously, probably because of my American accent. When he squinted, I noticed a scar on his head. It was an unusual shape, kind of like a...  
  
"Mmm," he answered nodding, interrupting my thought. "And you too I suppose..."  
  
"How'd you know that?" I asked stupidly.  
  
"Well it's not everyday you see one of those as a pet," he replied, nodding towards my snowy owl which was almost identical to his.  
  
"Oh, Yeti. Looks like you have one too."  
  
"Yeah, that's Hedwig. Just got her at Diagon Ally. Look! They seem to like each other!" he said, smiling slightly.  
  
Headwig and Yeti were looking at each other hooting back and forth, almost as if they were talking.  
  
"I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other then. By the way, I'm Aletta Lee Kalea Glynn Kendra Dakota Naveen Zara, just call me Aletta."  
  
"Oh, I'm Harry Po..."  
  
"I know," I interrupted.  
  
He looked at me a bit baffled. I swiped away some of his bangs revealing a lightning bolt shaped scar. "It's not every day you see one of those either."  
  
"Right," he said, blushing a bit.  
  
"So," I said breaking the silence, "you know how to get to platform nine and three-quarters from here?"  
  
"No, but I bet they do," Harry said pointing at a group of kids and a mother. Each kid had a head of fiery red hair and loads of freckles, and was accompanied by a trunk similar to Harry's and mine. We rolled our trolleys over to the mother who gladly helped us to platform nine and three- quarters. All you had to do was walk through the barrier dividing platforms nine and ten.  
  
That's when Harry and me first met the Weasleys. You could always tell a Weasley from any other kid because they all had a head of bright red hair and face full of freckles. The youngest son was Ron who, like me and Harry, was attending his first year of Hogwarts. Though he was tall, thin, and gangling, with big hands and feet, he had a certain, um, charm to him.  
  
As soon as we were on the Hogwarts Express, the two middle Weasley boys, who are twins, noticed who Harry was. You see, Harry isn't any ordinary wizard. His name is known to everyone involved in the magical world, though he himself didn't find out that he was a wizard or that he was famous until his eleventh birthday. I'll tell you why Harry is who he is.  
  
Voldemort, a name many fear. Voldemort, though most people call him You- know-who or He-who-must-not-be-named, was the most powerful Dark Wizard in time. Once he decided to kill you, you were lucky if you got one more nights rest before you were gone. One night, Holloween night to be exact, he decided on a very unlucky wizarding couple. He got their whereabouts from an anonymous resource. One night, he appeared on the streets of Gordics Hollow, aiming to kill, to kill James and Lily Potter. Once in the Potter house, James tried to fight Voldemort off and let Lily escape with their one-year-old boy, Harry. Voldemort eventually finished James off and came onto Lily. Lily Potter died begging Voldemort to take her and to spare little Harry. Voldemort had one more aim, a simple murder, one of a helpless baby boy. He aimed his wand at the boy and said the fatal words "Avada Kedevra" not thinking anything could go wrong, but it did. A power was protecting little Harry, a power Voldemort would never understand. This was the power of his mother's love for him. It kept Harry safe, bouncing the deadly curse off Harry and back at Voldemort, making him almost nothing. That night, there was great rejoicing, for the Dark Lord was gone! Harry, now parentless, was sent to live with his only living relatives, the Dursleys, who were very "normal" and involved in no such nonsense as magic, thank you very much. Now, Harry, the boy that lived, was on his way to Hogwarts to learn to be a wizard. To most, he was a little celebrity, but to me he was just another classmate.  
  
Once we (me, Ron and Harry that is) got onto the train and settled into our compartments, I decided to do a little walking so that Ron and Harry could get better aquatinted (it looked as though they both needed a friend). I was walking, more interested in the moving pictures on the wall then where I was going, when all of a sudden.  
  
"Ooof!" cried a boy who I knocked down.  
  
"Oh! Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. Let me help you," I said reaching down to give him a hand up.  
  
"Th- thanks," the boy stuttered. "H-have you happened to see a toad?  
  
"No I haven't, but I can help you look if you want."  
  
"Thanks! I lost him over by car."  
  
"There you are!" said a girl. She had bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and a stubborn, almost frightening look to her. "I thought I lost you as well."  
  
"Am I missing something here?" I asked the girl.  
  
"No, you aren't. Neville and I are looking for his toad, Trevor. You haven't happened to see him have you?" she asked.  
  
"No, I haven't. I was just asking, um, Neville's your name?" I asked the boy, he nodded yes so I continued, "Neville, if he needed help finding his toad."  
  
"No need for that. I'm helping him so you can go back to your compartment now," she replied bossily.  
  
Of course, I wouldn't let her get away with this, but I also had to be nice as not to get on her bad side. "Well, three heads ARE better then two. I'm sure we'll have a lovely time finding him. Oh, Trevor!" I said as I ducked down to look for the toad.  
  
"Who are you anyway?" the girl asked.  
  
"I'm an American," I replied in a British accent, handing Neville the toad I had just found.  
  
"Thanks!" said Neville beaming.  
  
"No problem," I responded walking towards my compartment.  
  
The girl followed me some ways until I got to where Harry, Ron, and I put our things.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked.  
  
"To my compartment to change. You can come in if you'd like." I said twisting the handle of the compartment. Sure she seemed like a snob, but I always give people another chance.  
  
"Sure," she said smiling slightly, "but only for a moment, I've got to change as."  
  
She stopped dead in her tracks. I looked into the compartment to see what she was staring at. It was Ron and Harry changing into their robes! As soon as I saw this, I screamed and slammed the door. The girl looked at me for a moment and then burst out laughing.  
  
"Wh- who was that?" she asked, shaking.  
  
"That was Ron Weasley and." I stopped and started laughing too.  
  
"WHO, WHO, WHO WAS IT?" she nearly shouted.  
  
"Ha-Ha-Har." I was shaking too hard to get it out.  
  
"TELL ME!" she said. She had stopped laughing and looked extremely cross.  
  
"Ok. Ok." I said, breathing deeply. "IT WAS HARRY POTTER!"  
  
The girl looked horror stuck and started blushing like mad.  
  
"THE Harry Potter? You mean we just walked in on THE HARRY POTTER? DRESSING?" She shouted, looking totally shocked.  
  
"Shhh!" I whispered, starting to laugh again. "He'll hear you!"  
  
She still had that look on her face, while I, I was laughing so hard I thought my ribs would crack. Then I stopped suddenly and looked at her in the same, angry way she was looking at me. We smiled at each other for the first time and at the same moment we grabbed each others arms and fell to the floor laughing 'till we cried. That was the start of a long friendship with me, Aletta Lee Zara, and Hermione Granger. 


	2. Eenie Meenie Miny Mo

"Not Slytherin. Please, please not Slytherin," I thought.  
  
"Not Slytherin, eh? Well, you really aren't the type. You're too cheery to belong to that group. Hufflepuff however."  
  
"Err! That's just as bad!"  
  
Now I was at the Sorting Ceremony, and I was being sorted. What happens is they put a ragged old hat, the sorting hat, on your head and it shouts out the name of the house you are in. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Sometimes, the hat took a minute or two to decide your house, and other times it shouts out before it barley touches your head. Hermione, Harry, and Ron had already been sorted, all into Gryffindor. Now it was my turn to be sorted into one of the Hogwarts houses. It would be the house that I have my classes with, who I sleep with, who I eat with, who I play Quidditch with. The two houses I wanted to get into were Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. On the train, I had heard that there wasn't one witch or wizard who came out of Slytherin who didn't go bad, and as for Hufflepuff, I heard they were all a bunch of duffers.  
  
"Can't I be with my friends?" I thought.  
  
"Mmm, Gryffindor then, are you sure? Hufflepuff could use someone like you. Wait a moment, I'm supposed to do the sorting here. Let's see then." the hat said so only I could hear it,"Eenie, Meenie, Minie, GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted Gryffindor so that the whole Great Hall could hear it. I smiled on my way down to the Gryffindor table. All of the Gryffindor table was applauding quietly. Harry, of course, got the loudest applaud of any of the tables.  
  
I sat down next to Hermione and she started chattering away very quickly so I couldn't understand her.  
  
"Slow down. I can't understand you, plus we've got all day!" I said, inturrupting her.  
  
"What do you mean you can't understand me? I wasn't talking that fast."  
  
"Since you have an accent and I have an accent we're not used to hearing each other talk to just slow down until I get used to how you talk now will somebody please pass the salt?" I said rather quickly.  
  
She smiled just like she did that first time on the train.  
  
"Of-course-Aletta," she said, pronunciating every word, "I-can-talk-like this."  
  
"O.K! Just talk slower already, sheesh," interrupted Ron.  
  
"Were we talking to you?" Hermione and I asked at the same time.  
  
"No. but, um," he stuttered.  
  
"Right then," said Harry. "Let's just eat, shall we?"  
  
Hermione and I glared at him and started chattering away about all sorts of things. Our old muggle schools, Hogwarts, muggle music, and family's were only a few of the topics.  
  
As I was talking and eating, I felt as though someone was watching me, but every time I looked up, everyone else was looking down.  
  
"I can't wait for classes to start!" Hermione rambled on. "It's going to be so interesting learning to be a witch! Don't you think?"  
  
"Oh of course! I always thought witches were evil, but I can't say that anymore, I'm about to become one!" I said.  
  
After I finished my sentence, I looked across the table to find Ron staring at me. He looked down at his food and turned a bright shade of red. I looked at Hermione who also saw this. I raised an eyebrow and she laughed silently. Hermione started eating again, but I kept looking at Ron. After a minute, he looked up at me. We both looked down, then back up a little. He smiled at me and I smiled back. The rest of dinner, Ron talked to Harry and I talked to Hermione.  
  
On the way up to the Gryffindor tower, Harry and Ron obviously wanted to be out of earshot because they lagged behind a few feet. I on the other hand, was trying to memorize the passages and pictures and staircases all at once, not an easy thing.  
  
Hermione started chattering excitedly about class the next day. Sure I was eager to learn magic but she was insane! She already knew half the material needed and did quite a lot of "light reading" at home. She and I steadily trailed behind the group talking about the morning schedule, when we fell into line with Ron and Harry.  
  
"What are you doing all the way back here?" I asked  
  
Ron's face when very red, "Just, um, you know, talking."  
  
"Oh," said Hermione, "I see. And what or who were you talking about?"  
  
She smiled at me in a mischievous way. If I knew a curse, any curse, even one that only makes you sneeze, I would have used it on Hermione right then and there.  
  
" 'Were we talking to you?' No!" mocked Harry playfully.  
  
"Well, taking that it might concern one of us," she looked at me again, "we do have the right to know."  
  
"Oh look, we're here," I said, thankful for a way to stop the conversation.  
  
We had arrived at a portrait of a huge woman.  
  
"Password?" she said.  
  
The Prefect who had been leading us, Percy Weasley, Ron's older brother, told us the password, "Caput Draconis." As soon as he said it the picture of the fat lady swung aside and led to what looked like my living room at home, only circular and a lot bigger. There were big, overstuffed chairs and couches everywhere and a fire crackling merrily as though it was greeting us. There were two doors that led to the dorms, a girl's staircase and a boy's staircase.  
  
Hermione and I skipped up the spiral staircase and found their dorm room. In it was five four-poster beds with deep red, velvet curtains. Our trunks had already been brought up.  
  
All of the other girls in our room were very tired and stuffed from the fantastic feast and went strait to bed. Hermione and I chatted quietly while we got ready for bed.  
  
"Do you think you'll be trying out for Quidditch?" I asked. On the train, the Weasley twins lent me a Quidditch Throughout the Ages book and said to look under where it said seeker.  
  
"No. I'll be too busy with my schoolwork. I hear sometimes matches last for weeks!"  
  
"Oh, well I'm at least trying out. I hope I can be seeker. I think I'm built for it."  
  
I looked at myself in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. I wasn't very tall for my age, just over 4'5 and although I always ate until my insides burst, I was as skinny as a twig. Light too, weighing just about 70 pounds, the books description of a good seeker.  
  
"You can if you want, but they usually never take first years. Actually, the last time a first year played for a house team was one hundred years ago. I'm sure they won't pick you. Besides you'd have to use the school brooms and they're not that, um, suitable for Quidditch," she said.  
  
"Hmm?" I shrugged, "But now they'll get a look at next years talent." I said flexing my "muscles" in the mirror.  
  
"O.K. super girl. We had better get to bed if we want to stay awake tomorrow in class. It's already 11 o'clock!"  
  
"That late huh?" I said jumping into my bed and drawing the curtains.  
  
"Yeah, G'night Aletta," Hermione yawned.  
  
I poked my head out from the middle of my curtains, "Good night, muggle child, for tomorrow, you will learn magic!"  
  
Hermione laughed and drew her curtains laughing. I lay in my bed, staring into the darkness thinking about my life.  
  
"Wow," I thought, "I can't believe how lucky I am! I'm here, in Scotland, at the best school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. I'm in a great house, I have tons of new friends, and I already like someone." I couldn't believe my last words.  
  
"I like someone." I whispered to myself. "I like Ron Weasley."  
  
I smiled and closed my eyes. Being a witch was pretty darn cool. 


	3. The Set Up

"Finally," cried a fifth year.  
  
"Yes! Beater's again!" Fred and George Weasley shouted.  
  
Oliver had just posted the Quidditch positions in the commons. Even though, I knew I didn't make the team, I walked over after the everyone left the commons to check it out. This is what I read.  
  
Position Player  
  
Seeker Harry Potter  
  
I twisted my face, not exactly in hatred, but in a wishing kind of way.  
  
"What-cha looking at?"  
  
I turned around to see Harry.  
  
"Just looking at the post," I said quietly.  
  
"Oh, hey look!" he said.  
  
He pointed to the spot after his name. It read:  
  
Position Player Alternate  
  
Seeker Harry Potter Aletta Zara  
  
I gasped. "Oh my Gosh! I am on the team!" I thought.  
  
"I didn't know you tried out!" Harry said.  
  
"Oh, I did it for fun. I didn't really expect to make it or anything." I lied. The last thing I wanted was for him to know that he beat me. After all, we had just made up.  
  
"Welcome to the team then," he said, holding out his hand.  
  
I went right past his hand and hugged him. I was too happy to care that I semi hated him, because I made the team!  
  
"I'm on the team!" I squealed.  
  
I pushed away from him and bounced up to my dorm. I stopped when I heard a voice.  
  
"What was that about?"  
  
"Oh, no!" I thought. All my happiness drained out at once. I knew that voice, it, just weeks before, had been used on me when Harry announced that he was Seeker. It was an angry Ron.  
  
"Look," Harry said. I heard a paper so I guess he had taken down the bulletin to show that I made the team.  
  
"So, she made the team. Why was she hugging you?" he asked.  
  
"She was excited and I was the one that pointed it out to her!" Harry said.  
  
"Well, I was in the room, too. Why wouldn't she have picked me to hug, Harry?" Ron asked stubbornly.  
  
I couldn't let this continue. I stepped down from the stair way and said, "I'm sorry, Ron. I didn't see you. And Harry was right, he was the one that showed me and I was excited."  
  
"You were listening to that?" Ron asked.  
  
"Well I just walked away and I heard you two."  
  
"She's got a point, Ron. So don't go getting mad," Harry cut in.  
  
"You know what? I'm going to leave you two alone. I think it's better that way," Ron huffed. In a minute he was out the portrait hole.  
  
"That was, odd," said Harry.  
  
"He's so touchy lately," I answered.  
  
"I think it's because." Harry started.  
  
".Because what?"  
  
"He told me not to tell you."  
  
"Tell me."  
  
"No."  
  
"Why?!"  
  
"I can't!"  
  
"Then why did you bring it up?"  
  
"I didn't mean to, but you should be able to figure it out."  
  
I looked at him, as though I was trying to find the answer on his face. He saw I was thinking hard so he said, "Just think, not too hard. Think about classes and meals. It'll come to you."  
  
I sat on the girl's dorm steps. I thought about how angry Ron was when I made Harry and mad me at dinner the night he said he was seeker. That didn't tell me anything, so I thought to our class earlier today, potions.  
  
I was partners with Dean. I remember I had a great time working with him. He cracked jokes at everything and they were all very funny. We spent the whole time talking, mostly about soccer, we both love the game, and laughing, paying little attention to our potion or the lesson. Then, I remembered when I looked over at Hermione to wave, I saw Ron behind her, looking angrily at Dean and muttering under his breath. Also, how Ron rushed over after class and insisted that I walked with him and Harry. He didn't want me to be by Dean, but by him instead. That could only mean.  
  
I looked at Harry. He smiled at me.  
  
"I knew you'd get it."  
  
I just stared at him. "Ron likes me?" I thought. "That's never happened to me before! I've always been Spencer's little sister." I looked away from Harry toward the portrait hole.  
  
Once outside, I rushed to find Ron. I listened for footsteps, but instead heard a muffled noise coming from behind a door. The door was opened slightly so it didn't make much noise. Inside was Ron, sitting on a desk facing the wall with his head in his hands. I tiptoed over to him and realized that he was crying. I walked a bit closer to him, but accidentally kicked a desk. He whipped around and I saw his tear-streaked face.  
  
"What?" he asked in a shaky voice.  
  
"I wanted to make sure you were o.k." I said, taking a step closer to him.  
  
"What? With you and Harry? I'm fine, I mean it's not like I care or anything," he spat angrily.  
  
"There's nothing between Harry and me, we're just friends. Good friends." I said, and it was true, Harry was now one of my best friends.  
  
"Very good friends. Too good of friends," Ron said as he stood up to face me.  
  
"Why, just because I hugged him, does it mean that I like him like that? If hugging means so much then," I said, stopping in the middle of my sentence. I walked over to Ron, wrapped my arms around his shoulders and gave him a quick hug. He looked a bit startled, then turned red.  
  
"So, you like me as a friend?" he asked.  
  
"Sure, why not?" I said in a teasing way.  
  
"Good, that's good," he said, looking at his feet.  
  
"Yeah, what say we go to the Great Hall, eh? Dinner should be starting shortly."  
  
"You're turning British on me, Aletta."  
  
"I am, aren't I?" 


	4. Down at the Library

"ARGH!" someone yelled.  
  
"Wha? What happened?" I yawned. It was pretty early and I had been woken up by a scream.  
  
One of the girls in my dorm, Lavender Brown, opened my curtains and said, "We think one of the boys had a bad dream. It came from their dormitory," she said giggling.  
  
"I'm going to the common room and see what happened," I said jumping out of bed and reaching for my new baby blue robe.  
  
"I wouldn't put that on if I were you," said Hermione.  
  
"And why." I stopped because as soon as I felt my robe, I let out an ear piercing scream. My robe was covered in green, sticky goo. The Head Girl rushed in and asked who screamed.  
  
"I did," I told her, "I was going to go to the commons to see who screamed before me, but when I went to put on my robe."  
  
Hermione held up my glop-covered robe with two fingers. With that, the Head girl grabbed my arm and my robe and pulled me downstairs. Instead of staying in the commons, she took me through the other door to the boy's dorms!  
  
"Mr. Potter! Please bring out an item of yours," the head girl shouted.  
  
I was totally confused now. Then, Harry came out of his dorm, covered in the goop that was on my robe, but you could tell he tried to get it off. In his hand was a book, Magical Theory by Albert Waffling, covered thickly in the goo.  
  
The Head Boy followed Harry out of his dorm and took my robe from the Head Girl. He looked at the goo, smelled it, then touched it. He did the same with the goo on Harry's book.  
  
The Head Boy looked straight at me and said, "Come with me."  
  
So, I did. I followed him up through the rest of the boy's dormitory until we reached a small room. Inside was a four-poster bed, a trunk, and a desk with lots of objects and papers on it.  
  
"Sit down, please." He said.  
  
I sat down on the bed and looked at him. He saw that I was puzzled, but asked me bizarre questions anyway.  
  
"What did you do last night?" was his first question.  
  
I told him that after I was sorted, I ate at the feast, went to the common room and strait to my dorm and went to sleep.  
  
"Anything else?" he asked.  
  
"N-no, nothing," I answered shivering. I wished I had my robe.  
  
"Well, Mr. Potter woke up this morning and found himself and all of his belongings covered in this," he started, holding up a small sample. "We had no idea what it was or where it came from. Then, you turned up with this, stuff, on your robe and nothing else."  
  
Since it was only 7 o'clock, I was still a little sleepy. It took about 30 seconds for what he said to sink in.  
  
"You think I did it then," I said calmly.  
  
"Well, obviously. There is no path or anything; just a robe filled in the same goo. The robe belongs to you."  
  
"What if HE is setting ME up?" I nearly shouted. "I mean, what if HE put that stuff on MY robe and made it look like I did the crime! Ever think of that?"  
  
"Why," he started. He stopped to think and restarted his statement, "Why would Mr. Potter want to do something like that to you, Miss."  
  
"Miss Zara. Maybe for the same reason I would want to do it to him!"  
  
"And what reason is that, Miss Zara?"  
  
"THERE IS NO REASON BECAUSE I DIDN'T DO IT!"  
  
I knew I would get in trouble for it, but I got up and marched out of the room. I was almost to the commons when Harry stopped me.  
  
"Why did you do that?" he asked a little shocked.  
  
I just sighed angrily and marched up to the girl's dorm. When I got back everyone, even the second and third years wanted to know what happened. So I told them the whole story about hearing the scream, finding my robe, being wrongly accused, and even having Harry think I trashed his stuff.  
  
"That's just not right," said Mina Star, another first year who also happened to be my cousin.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.  
  
"I mean," Mina started. "Innocent until proven guilty."  
  
"If I was Harry, this would look pretty guilty to me," I said, holing up my robe. The goo had dried and made my robe as hard as a piece of wood and able to stand on its own.  
  
"She's right you know. Everything points to her so far," said Lavender.  
  
"But she has a witness! I talked to her right before she went to sleep and when I got up to go to the washroom she was still there in her bed!" said Hermione.  
  
"Wait. How did you know she was still in bed? Her bed curtains were closed," asked Mina suspiciously.  
  
"First of all I could hear her moving around and second her." she stopped in the middle of her sentence.  
  
"My what Herm?" I asked eagerly.  
  
".her blue robe was still on her trunk!" Hermione finished.  
  
"What time did you get up?" asked Parvati Patil.  
  
"Around 3 o'clock."  
  
"So this must have taken place AFTER 3 o'clock." Mina started.  
  
"4." Hermione cut in.  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"I got back at around 4. I stayed down in the common room and watched the fire."  
  
"You didn't see anyone, did you?" Mina asked.  
  
"Well, I was facing the fire, but if anyone was there they must have been able to hold their breath for a long time."  
  
That's exactly when Professor McGonagall, the house teacher, came in and started to question us. We all took turns explaining what we had just discussed. In the end, Professor McGonagall made up her mind that I, Aletta, was not guilty.  
  
Down at breakfast, Harry made sure to sit as far away from me as he could.  
  
"He thinks it was me," I whispered to Hermione, "and he hates me."  
  
"I don't think he hates you," she replied. Then she looked down the table to see Harry glaring at me and muttering under his breath.  
  
"Oh, yeah. You're right, Herm. In fact I think he's rather fond of me," I said, talking into my plate of eggs rather then Hermione.  
  
"Oh get off it," said Mina cheerfully, plopping down next to me at the Gryffindor table. "It's only one kid. I'm sure he'll cool off."  
  
"Are you sure it's only one?" I asked her, looking down the table only to see now that most of the first and second year boys were wearing the same glare as Harry. The only two who at least were half-and-half were Neville Longbottom and Ron.  
  
"That was definitely an understatement, Mina," said Hermione.  
  
There was a long pause, mostly because everyone was concentrating on eating at the moment.  
  
"Well, I'm off to the library." Hermione announced, "Anyone coming?"  
  
"What? Are you crazy? Term hasn't even started yet!" I said.  
  
"I know, but I want to research on that goo," Hermione replied.  
  
"Well, in that case," I said shoving some sausage into my mouth, "I'wl meht woo down dare."  
  
She looked at me in disgust and I smiled showing as much chewed up food as I could. She shook her head and walked away. Then she stopped at the end of the table near the first year boys and started talking. When she stopped, Harry said something to her and she looked a little surprised. She said something else and Ron got up and walked out with her.  
  
"Oooh! You're big chance!" Mina whispered to me.  
  
I swallowed and said, "What do you mean?"  
  
Mina turned and looked at the back of Ron's red haired head and then back at me and smiled.  
  
"You're crazy," I said, and got up to leave.  
  
"Not as crazy as he is about you!" she said quietly.  
  
Then it was my turn to shake my head and leave. I headed to the library, which took me a while since it was my first time going to it. Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, was a great help though. When I got there, I was astonished on how many books there were. Most of them looked at least over two hundred years old! I heard soft talking coming from a corner so I went in that direction. When I was close enough, I stopped to listen in on what Ron and Hermione were saying.  
  
"Is this it?" Ron asked, followed by a soft thud, which was probably a heavy book.  
  
"Yes it is. Thank you, Ron. By the way, what makes you think that it wasn't Aletta." Hermione responded.  
  
"Well, um, I mean, just because that stuff was on her robe doesn't mean she did it. I mean what does she have against Harry?"  
  
"That's what I say, I mean, I saw her robe when I got out of our dormitory."  
  
Ron murmured something.  
  
"What?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Nothing. this just puts me in an odd position."  
  
"How?" You could tell Hermione was getting excited.  
  
I started to lean on whatever was next to me, this was getting interesting.  
  
"Well, it's not easy to explain, I mean, um." Ron stopped because I had started to lean on a pile of books which toppled over under my weight. Of course, I turned bright red, but, thank God, Hermione had a cover-up plan.  
  
"How many books did you try to carry, Letti?" she asked.  
  
Ron looked puzzled as soon as she said Letti. You see, even though I am the first witch of my family, I do have siblings. I have one older brother, Spencer who is not a wizard and a set of littler twins, Leon and Lakotah who could very well be. When it came time for them to talk, I did my best to get them to say Aletta before Spencer could get them to say his name. I almost succeeded until Lakotah started calling me Letti.  
  
"It's a family nick-name," I said.  
  
"Oh, it's, um, nice," he said, smiling and blushing at the same time.  
  
I opened my mouth to say something, I have no idea what, when Hermione said, "Aletta, did you really look for these?"  
  
"Yeah." I said unsure.  
  
"Because this is what I was looking for!" she held up a book titled Odd Happenings in the Wizarding World by Taylor Kateb.  
  
She sat down on the far end of a table and opened the book. I sat down next to her and Ron sat next to me. When she said, "Got it!" Ron had to lean over me to see. As Hermione flipped the pages, I felt his breath on my neck and felt his knee go onto my chair as he leaned over more to see. I wish Hermione could have flipped through the pages forever.  
  
"Drat!" she said.  
  
"Wha?" asked Ron.  
  
"Someone ripped out the pages that we needed!" cried Hermione.  
  
"Hey, don't get so upset. It's me that's gonna get in trouble, not you," I told Hermione.  
  
"Or maybe all of you will get in trouble," said a high pitched voice.  
  
I whipped my head around and was face to face with Ron. He hadn't moved until I faced him, because as soon as I did, he blushed, turned around and sank into his chair.  
  
"Wha- wha- wha." Hermione stuttered.  
  
"This," said the old woman, who the voice belonged to, "is the Restricted Section of the library. You are not permitted in here, unless you have permission from a teacher."  
  
Of course we didn't because our first class of the year for another 15 minutes.  
  
"I however will let you pass because you are first years and have not been told. If I catch you back here again however, you will all receive a detention," she said briskly, and walked away.  
  
"Lllllet's go." said Ron quickly.  
  
"Right," said Hermione, quickly shutting the book.  
  
They were all so tense that I just had to do something drastic.  
  
"Race you back to the commons!" I whisper-yelled.  
  
As soon as I turned around, I started walk-jogging. As soon as I was out of the library, I took off at full sprint with Ron and Hermione right at my heels. Of course, none of us knew where our common room was, but we had a grand time running through the castle. Finally, we got to the picture of the fat lady. We were all breathing so hard that we couldn't get the password out.  
  
"Password?" said the fat lady, getting annoyed. it was her third time asking for it.  
  
"Caput. Caput." said Ron breathing loudly.  
  
"Caput Drac." said Hermione, struggling for air.  
  
I took a deep breath and said, "C." when the portrait hole swung open. 


	5. In the Dark of the Dungeons

There in the portrait hole, stood Harry Potter with all of his things for potions.  
  
"It's about time," he grumbled, giving me a particularly dirty look.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, still out of breath.  
  
"We have potions in five minutes, this castle is huge, I don't know where I'm going, and you three show up from the library," he checked his watch, "ten minutes after you said you would."  
  
"Harry, don't get mad at them, it was my idea." Hermione started.  
  
"Well, if she hadn't trashed my stuff, you wouldn't have wanted to find a way to cover up." Harry said, then continued in a high-pitched voice, " 'but Professor, I've been reading up on swamp goo and it's perfectly normal to get onto peoples things in the middle of the night.' "  
  
"Why don't you lay off her already," said a voice coming from a chair near the fire. "She said she didn't do it, so she didn't do it." Mina's head popped up from the chair the voice was coming from. "I mean, I know her pretty well, she is my cousin."  
  
"You're just covering for her too," snapped Harry. He turned to Ron, then back to where Mina was sitting, looking very sorry that he snapped at her. "Let's go get your stuff, Ron."  
  
Ron looked at me and shrugged. He had an I'm-sorry-but-I-know-you're- still-my-friend look on his face. Besides, who couldn't forgive eyes like that.  
  
"Aletta," Hermione sang.  
  
"Mmm?" I answered, still looking at the boy's dorm door.  
  
"Potions!" she shouted. That made me jump. So I ran up to our dorm room to get my stuff. I came out the same time as Harry and Ron. Even though we all left together, they pulled ahead of us so that we couldn't see them after three minutes of walking. That left me alone to talk to Hermione and Mina.  
  
"I didn't know you guys were cousins! You sure don't look alike," said Hermione.  
  
She was right. Except for height and maybe weight, Mina and I looked nothing alike! I had chin length blonde hair with natural highlights, misty blue eyes (much like Professor Dumbledores), with pale skin and a soft sprinkle of freckles across my nose, while Mina couldn't look any more different! She had shoulder length brown hair, brilliant green eyes (much like Harry Potter) with glasses, and very tan skin with no freckles at all. All in all, you'd think we had come from different planets, let alone our mother's be sisters. And it was only after we were sorted into the same house that we found out that we were both witches(our muggle mothers kept it a secret from each other). Mina and I smiled at each other.  
  
As we got nearer and nearer to the potions dungon, it got colder and colder and the girls wrapped their robes more tightly around themselves.  
  
"Ew!" the girls heard someone say behind them. "What's that I smell?"  
  
We turned around and to our great surprise, it was Draco Malfoy, a snotty Slytherin first year who didn't like anyone but pure bloods (people who have parents who are a witch and a wizard).  
  
"What?" asked Goyle, Draco's Slytherin friend, who in my opinion resembled a baby troll.  
  
"Mudblood!" Draco said in a very nasty tone. His nostrils flared and he sniffed around Mina and me.  
  
"What is it, Draco?" Crabbe asked. Crabbe was Draco's other goon. He, more than Goyle, looked like a troll, if that was possible.  
  
"It's. pure!" he said, standing up strait. "May I escort you to class."  
  
"Eat dirt, Draco. And learn to sniff your own kind," I said walking past him.  
  
He turned to Mina and smiled. Mina looked like she was fighting the urge to spit on Draco's shoe. Then she smiled slightly and sniffed in the air, "Wait, I smell something too, you Aletta?"  
  
I caught on right away.  
  
"Blaugh!" I said, sniffing with Mina. We both worked our way towards Draco, and when we reached him, we looked at each other and nodded.  
  
"Just what I thought," said Mina.  
  
"What do you think?" asked Draco, excitedly.  
  
"Pure blood sometimes rots, isn't that right, Herm?" I said.  
  
Hermione was in a coughing fit that sounded "oddly" like laughter. We all heard footsteps and hurried into the classroom. There were tables with four chairs at each. Hermione, Lavender, and I sat down right away at one table, while Harry, and Ron sat at another. Mina was about to sit at our table when Harry waved her to his. She eagerly ran over and sat next to Harry, smiling!  
  
"Traitor," I muttered under my breath staring violently at Harry. Just then, someone plotted into the seat next to me.  
  
"Well, looks like we have more in common then I thought," Draco said.  
  
I groaned. "Happy to see me?" he asked with a smile.  
  
"Go by your own type, you." my voice drifted off because I was about to call Draco something unprintable just as Professor Snape, the Potions Professor as well as Slytherin teacher, walked into the room.  
  
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion- making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but we caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnarling the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."  
  
Then he asked Harry some questions that no one except Hermione knew. Every time Harry answered wrong, Snape made a comment like "Tut, tut- fame clearly isn't everything" and "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" It was very cold and heartless for Professor Snape to do this to poor Harry, yet, I was enjoying every moment of it. Hey! He deserved it! Draco on the other hand found it tremendously funny, laughing at every remark Snape made.  
  
The rest of Potions was not at all fun. Snape split us into groups of two, I got stuck with Draco. We started with a simple potion to sure boils. Snape swept around watching and waiting at each spot, leaving only when we did something wrong. You could tell he favored the Slytherins, especially Draco. That was the only plus with working with him. The class went on like this, with Snape walking up and down the tables, taking points away from Gryffindor every chance he got.  
  
On the way up from the dungeon, all of the Gryffindors had a little talk, which made things worse between Harry and me.  
  
"This is so unfair," said Harry. "I didn't do anything, and he takes points away from me!"  
  
"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George."  
  
"But for no reason?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, but, um." Ron started.  
  
"Then what does he have against me?" Harry asked.  
  
"Did you accuse him of something he didn't do, perhaps?" I asked, coldly, walking up behind them.  
  
"No," Harry shot back. "I'd never."  
  
"Think before you talk, Harry," Hermione said.  
  
"If you think Aletta's innocent," said Seamus, "take another look at her robe, Hermione."  
  
"That proves nothing!" shouted Lavender.  
  
"Yeah right," said Harry.  
  
"Maybe whoever put the stuff in your things, Harry, started to put it in Aletta's things and was stopped by your girly screams. Ever think of that?" asked Mina.  
  
Harry suddenly when a light shade of pink, "No, um, I gotta go. To Hagrid's. Wanna come, Ron?"  
  
"Yeah." said Ron, and they set off toward the doors.  
  
"The nerve!" we, Mina, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and laughed all the way to the Gryffindor commons. 


	6. Flying and Forgiving

The wind in my hair, my robes whipping behind me, the sense of freedom, there was no better feeling in the world. I loved it! I was at Quidditch try-outs, just as I told Hermione that I would. As luck would have it, I was the only one trying out for seeker. I guess the Gryffindor Keeper and Captain, Oliver Wood, was very picky about his team.  
  
"Fred, George, stop playing with the bludgers! You'll lose them one day!" shouted Wood.  
  
Fred and George are Ron's older twin brothers. They're the team Beaters and by just watching them, I can see that they're good.  
  
"Aletta, let's see you as Seeker." yelled Oliver.  
  
"OK!" I yelled back. Since I was a first year and a muggle born, he gave me a short riding lesson, and then let me to fly around on my own.  
  
Oliver flew over with a bucket of golf balls and started tossing them to me. After I got used to that, he backed up a bit and threw them as hard as he could in all different directions. I missed one, just one, and that was all. At the end of the try-out, Oliver gave a little speech about how great we were going to be this year and that he was looking forward to playing with us.  
  
"Positions will be posted in the commons in about a week," he said, ending his speech. "Aletta, can I see you for a moment?"  
  
I walked over to where Wood was standing, a little nervous.  
  
"You are the only first year to try out this year. Usually I don't take first years because they have yet to have flying lessons with Madam Hooch. But, you were the only one to try out for Seeker, and you were very good at that. I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of you in the season." He said smiling.  
  
I just nodded and walked to the broom storage to put the Shooting Star the school had lent me away.  
  
As soon as I stepped off of the Quidditch field, Hermione ran up to me, "So how did it go?" she asked excitedly.  
  
"Well, I was the only first year." I stared.  
  
"Figures," Hermione interrupted.  
  
".and, the only one that tried for Seeker!" I said.  
  
"What did Oliver say?"  
  
"He said that he's sure he'll be seeing me a lot this season!"  
  
"Wonderful! Now we have to get to flying class. I'm so nervous that I'll fall or my broom won't cooperate."  
  
"Just don't get stuck with a Shooting Star. it hurts your bum when you turn." I said.  
  
"Did you just say bum?" Hermione asked.  
  
I stopped in my tracks. "I guess you Brits are growing on me!" I said.  
  
"Next you'll be calling people "love". Oh Ron love." she said.  
  
"You will die a slow and painful death, Hermione Granger."  
  
"Oh no." groaned Hermione.  
  
"Oh ye. no!" I said.  
  
As we got to the flying field, we recognized some Slytherins. Flying with Slytherins would be as bad as cleaning the Great Hall with your tongue.  
  
"Flying with Mudbloods. how charming."  
  
Hermione and I spun around only to see Draco Malfoy. With him was a Slytherin girl. Her name was Laura Emerald-Charmed.  
  
"At least he found someone to worship him," whispered Hermione.  
  
Just then, most of the first year boys marched onto the field. They all looked confident and excited. All except Neville who was running down from the castle. He had his rememberall, which his Grandmother had sent him at breakfast, and it was toning down from a bright red.  
  
"I knew I had forgotten something," he muttered.  
  
Just then, Madam Hooch, the teacher, arrived.  
  
"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone by a broomstick. Hurry up!"  
  
Everyone rushed to get a broom. Hermione and I were sure to get old Comets rather then the Shooting Stars.  
  
"Now, stick your right hand out over your broom and say 'UP!'" she commanded.  
  
"Up!" everyone shouted.  
  
My broom flew into my hand just as it did when I practiced earlier with Oliver, but it was one of the few that did. Harry, Ron, Draco, Mina, and I were the only ones with our brooms in our hands on the first try. After a few more "Up!"'s, the whole class had a broom in their hand. We all mounted and Madam Hooch gave the signal to gently push off the ground and to only go a few feet up. Neville shot up into the air. He went about twenty feet when he fell off.  
  
"Broken wrist," I heard her mutter. "Come on boy - it's alright. Get up!"  
  
She turned to the rest of the class.  
  
"None of you move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch!'"  
  
Neville hobbled off clutching his wrist with Madam Hooch. He had tried to hied his tear-streaked face, but Hermione and I saw it.  
  
"Poor thing," whispered Hermione.  
  
"I feel so bad, I could have gone up after him." I started.  
  
The Slytherins, especially Draco, found it all quite amusing and started making comments about Neville, "the great lump."  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.  
  
"Ooo, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl.  
  
"Never thought you'd like fat little cry-babies, Parvati," said Laura, the girl who was with Draco.  
  
"Look!" said Draco, picking something up out of the grass. "It's that thing that Longbottom's gran sent him!"  
  
"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.  
  
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find it, like say, up a tree?" Draco said, smiling nastily.  
  
"Give it here!" Harry yelled. At that, Draco took off on his broom, flying incredibly well.  
  
"Come and get it, Potter," he yelled, sniggering.  
  
Harry grabbed his broom and started to mount. Hermione, Mina, and I darted forward. Hermione didn't want us to get in trouble, her preferably. Mina didn't want Harry to get hurt. the traitor. I, I didn't think it was a good idea for Harry to chase Malfoy around on a broom. I mean, he had never flown before. He ignored us all and took off. Once he got up, I'd say that he was a better flyer than Malfoy even. We could all tell that they were saying something, but they were too high up for us to hear.  
  
Everyone, even the Slytherins were watching, fearing that one of the two would fall. Suddenly, Malfoy tossed the ball up into the air. Harry dove for the ball, or in other words, dove straight at the ground. He flew incredably well, but that wouldn't save him from the hard ground below. He was gaining on the ball every second. Ten feet, five feet, two feet, until he would reach the ball. To everyone's relief, he caught the ball only about a foot from the ground and pulled up hard, landing gently on the ground. Hermione and Mina sighed then gasped for air. They had been holding their breath, and to my surprise, I did too.  
  
Just then, I gasped, and not for breath. I tapped Hermione and pointed towards the castle. Running at us from across the grounds was a very angry Professor McGonagall.  
  
"HARRY POTTER! Never - in all my time at Hogwarts - you could have broken your neck!" All the glory from Harry's face vanished and turned into a look of pure terror.  
  
"It wasn't his fault Professor."  
  
"Be quiet Miss Patil. Potter, follow me, now."  
  
We all watched as Professor McGonagall marched Harry back up to the castle.  
  
"Oh, no," whispered Mina. "I hope he doesn't get expelled."  
  
"I shouldn't have let him go." Hermione said quietly.  
  
I really felt sorry for him, "He got what he deserved, I mean, if he didn't go up there Malfoy would have been the one in trouble. I mean it's our word against theirs," I said looking at the Slytherins. They were now in a bunch laughing hysterically at Malfoy's imitations of Harry's face.  
  
"No! Professor! You don't understand! I was trying to impress my followers! No harm in that," cried Malfoy.  
  
Right then, I decided to forgive Harry, not entirely, but enough to stand up for him now and then.  
  
"Look at me!" I shouted. Everyone turned and stared at me curiously. I started to strut around, making sure that I looked like I owned the place. "My name is Draco and I'm jealous of Harry Potter. I have to make fun of him so that people notice me! Why can't I be the "boy that lived?" Why can't I have the scar on my head? Why can't I be the one that everyone likes?" I turned and smiled a cold smile at Malfoy, who, looked like he was ready to kill. The Gryffindors however, couldn't be laughing harder.  
  
Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor first year, put on a puzzled look and let his arms hang down. He walked, or should I say waddled, over by me and grunted. Everyone knew he was imitating one of Malfoy's best friends, Goyle, and the Gryffindors started laughing again. Even a few Slytherin's sniggered.  
  
"That will be enough non-sense," said Madam Hooch, who had just arrived from the castle, luckily not in time to catch mine and Dean's performance. "I am glad to inform you that Mr. Longbottom will be at dinner tonight and that we will continue our lesson." 


	7. Something Special

Hermione, Mina, and I walked into the Great Hall for lunch and spotted Ron, and Harry was with him! We all rushed over to see what had happened.  
  
"It's about time you showed up! He wouldn't tell me what happened until you lot got here," Ron said.  
  
"Well, spill it out, Harry," Hermione said.  
  
"Lemme eat. Sit down," he said through a mouth full of mashed potatoes.  
  
"That reminds me of someone," said Hermione, shoving me over a spot so I would have to sit next to Ron.  
  
"Who?" Mina asked.  
  
"Aletta. She sure knows how to make 'see food'," said Hermione.  
  
Mina smiled, she was the one that told me about that, and Ron snorted into his soup. Harry seemed to have gotten a huge appetite, all he did was eat. O.k. I know it was lunch, but he didn't talk or anything! Just looked and picked at his food!  
  
"Why aren't you talking, Harry?" I asked.  
  
"Why do I want to talk to you?" he shot back. He obviously hadn't forgiven me.  
  
"Well, we ARE in the same house, and besides, who else would have told Malfoy off after you left?" He looked a little puzzled after I said that, so we all took turns telling what happened.  
  
"You did that? For me?" he asked.  
  
"No, I did it for my own amusement," I said sarcastically.  
  
He smiled at me. I guess all was forgiven. Then he sat up and said, "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for."  
  
We all looked eagerly at him. He just stared at us smiling. I kicked him under the table and he said, "I'm the Gryffindor Seeker."  
  
Everyone, except Hermione and I, looked extremely happy. Ron was patting him on the back, Mina was squealing congratulations, and Hermione was lecturing him about getting good things out of getting in trouble.  
  
"Come again?" was all I said.  
  
"I-am-the-Gryffindor-Seeker," he said.  
  
I looked blankly at him, with tears welling in my eyes. There went my chance, my chance at playing a wizard game that I loved just as much as I loved the muggle game, soccer. You see, becoming a witch was the best thing in the world for me. Before then it was always Spencer's piano recitals and Spencer's football games and "Spencer the strait A student." No matter what, Spencer was always better than me. When I became a witch, it took some of those things away from Spencer. He had to miss a party because of the flight to London, he couldn't make his baseball play-offs because we had to go to get my things for school, and to top it off, he wasn't a wizard! This was my chance to be the best at something, better than Spencer at a sport, for once in my life. He looked back at me, most likely expecting praise.  
  
"Congratulations," I said in a flat tone. He stopped smiling and looked at me in a very nasty way. I then got up, and walked out of the Great Hall at a slow pace, in a great amount of shock. I had just let a tear out when I heard someone.  
  
"What was that all about?" It was Ron. I would know his voice anywhere. Only this time it was angry.  
  
"You all just made up and now you've gone and gave Harry something else to be mad at you about!" he roared.  
  
I didn't turn around because the last thing I wanted Ron to think was that he made me cry. He pulled on my shoulder and turned me around. His face was full of anger, but then I guess he saw my tears because his face suddenly softened.  
  
"What's the matter?" he asked in a soft tone.  
  
"Nothing," I whispered. "You go eat, I'm not hungry."  
  
"How bout we walk up to the common rooms instead," he said.  
  
I smiled and wiped the tears out of my eyes, "That would be nice."  
  
As we walked, I explained to him about Spencer, and him always being perfect and me being the afterthought. That I was thinking about home at dinner and it just got to me.  
  
"That's how I feel." he said. "I've got five older brothers and most of them are over-achievers. Bill was head boy, Charlie was awesome at Quidditch, Percy, well that's self explanatory, and Fred and George, there's no one that doesn't like them. I, well I'm Harry Potter's best friend and I don't think that counts."  
  
"I had no idea," I said. Ron had more of a reason to cry than I did, but still, I was so close!  
  
We walked up to the Gryffindor commons in silence after that. When we got there, we both headed up to our dorms to change out of our robes. I still wasn't over the whole Seeker thing yet, so I cried a bit upstairs. Ron was already in the commons by the time I got down again.  
  
"No one's here yet, huh?" I asked.  
  
He jumped a little, "Oh you scared me. Well, it doesn't look like it. Come sit here, it's warm."  
  
I sat in a chair across from Ron. We were in the best seats, they were usually taken when other people where here.  
  
"Does it ever upset you," I asked, "that you're brother's are so talented?"  
  
"Sometimes, especially when I'm judged against them. I mean, most of the time I feel like a nobody," he said looking down.  
  
"For what it's worth," I said, pausing until he looked up, "I think that you're something special."  
  
He smiled and blushed slightly. I noticed that he had the softest, kindest eyes, especially when they were looking into mine.  
  
Just then the portrait hole swung open and the Gryffindors who stayed at dinner rushed into the commons. That broke Ron and my eye contact and we both looked at the fire.  
  
"Aletta!" someone screeched. Just then Mina rushed between my chair and Ron's. She looked at me and the happy look on her face turned serious because she just knew I had been crying. Since we're really close cousins we just know these things. "What's wrong, Letti?"  
  
"Nothing, don't worry yourself. Now what were you going to say, I need a bit of cheer," I said, putting a little accent on the last part, non- intentionaly of course.  
  
"Aletta Lee, you get more of an accent every time I hear you!," said Hermione who had been standing behind me.  
  
"What's the news then?" asked Ron, he had obviously been eaves dropping.  
  
"Come over here too, Ron. You'll want to know," said Mina  
  
Ron made a face and got up. As soon as he did some fourth years grabbed it. "There goes my chair so this better be good."  
  
"Well," she began, "because this year we are all doing so well so fast," she smiled at Hermione and continued, "Dumbledore is giving us a surprise! So, at the end of lunch he kept us a little longer than usual and explained that we're going to have a ball! It will be for first, second, and third years only."  
  
"Don't we need dress robes?" asked Ron.  
  
"And when is it?" I croaked.  
  
"He said the date is being confirmed and it won't be any time soon. Yes, we need robes, that's why. we get to go to Hogsmead to get some robes!" she practically yelled.  
  
Ron's face lit up. "Are we allowed to go anywhere else besides the robe shop?"  
  
"Dumbledore said we could. " Mina started, but Ron was running to the owlery.  
  
"I think he's sending to his mum for some gold," said Harry.  
  
I sort of ignored him, I mean, I was still really upset and looking at him made tears again, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Him and Mina looked at each other and Mina left. Harry kneeled next to the chair I was sitting in.  
  
"What's the matter Aletta?" he asked gently. Hermione obviously hadn't told him about me trying out for Seeker, I'd have to thank her later.  
  
"Who said anything was wrong? And aren't you mad at me?" I asked, trying to block out the strain in my voice.  
  
"Not mad, just shocked. I know girls can act rather odd." He paused, thinking he had said to much. "And, you just acted so, odd at dinner, and it looks like you were crying," he finished, offering me his sleeve to dry my eyes.  
  
I took it and said, "Thank you," and nothing more.  
  
He got up and started to walk away, then he turned around and said, "If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me."  
  
I smiled at him as he walked away. "What a sweetie." I thought. "No wonder Mina likes him." Again I couldn't believe my last words. I thought I was going nuts until Mina confirmed my suspicion.  
  
"Do you know where Harry went?" she asked, walking over to where I was sitting.  
  
"He just walked up to his dorm, why?"  
  
"I wanted to talk to him about something."  
  
"What?"  
  
Mina blushed a little, "Oh, nothing."  
  
I gave her a your-weirding-me-out look, then turned to look at the fire. We had no more classes that day, so I stayed there, thinking, skipping dinner even, until late. I never bothered to make it up to the dorm, so I slept in the commons, right in front of the fire. 


	8. A Step in the Right Direction

"Finally," cried a fifth year.  
  
"Yes! Beater's again!" Fred and George Weasley shouted.  
  
Oliver had just posted the Quidditch positions in the commons. Even though, I knew I didn't make the team, I walked over after the everyone left the commons to check it out. This is what I read.  
  
Position Player  
  
Seeker Harry Potter  
  
I twisted my face, not exactly in hatred, but in a wishing kind of way.  
  
"What-cha looking at?"  
  
I turned around to see Harry.  
  
"Just looking at the post," I said quietly.  
  
"Oh, hey look!" he said.  
  
He pointed to the spot after his name. It read:  
  
Position Player Alternate  
  
Seeker Harry Potter Aletta Zara  
  
I gasped. "Oh my Gosh! I am on the team!" I thought.  
  
"I didn't know you tried out!" Harry said.  
  
"Oh, I did it for fun. I didn't really expect to make it or anything." I lied. The last thing I wanted was for him to know that he beat me. After all, we had just made up.  
  
"Welcome to the team then," he said, holding out his hand.  
  
I went right past his hand and hugged him. I was too happy to care that I semi hated him, because I made the team!  
  
"I'm on the team!" I squealed.  
  
I pushed away from him and bounced up to my dorm. I stopped when I heard a voice.  
  
"What was that about?"  
  
"Oh, no!" I thought. All my happiness drained out at once. I knew that voice, it, just weeks before, had been used on me when Harry announced that he was Seeker. It was an angry Ron.  
  
"Look," Harry said. I heard a paper so I guess he had taken down the bulletin to show that I made the team.  
  
"So, she made the team. Why was she hugging you?" he asked.  
  
"She was excited and I was the one that pointed it out to her!" Harry said.  
  
"Well, I was in the room, too. Why wouldn't she have picked me to hug, Harry?" Ron asked stubbornly.  
  
I couldn't let this continue. I stepped down from the stair way and said, "I'm sorry, Ron. I didn't see you. And Harry was right, he was the one that showed me and I was excited."  
  
"You were listening to that?" Ron asked.  
  
"Well I just walked away and I heard you two."  
  
"She's got a point, Ron. So don't go getting mad," Harry cut in.  
  
"You know what? I'm going to leave you two alone. I think it's better that way," Ron huffed. In a minute he was out the portrait hole.  
  
"That was, odd," said Harry.  
  
"He's so touchy lately," I answered.  
  
"I think it's because." Harry started.  
  
".Because what?"  
  
"He told me not to tell you."  
  
"Tell me."  
  
"No."  
  
"Why?!"  
  
"I can't!"  
  
"Then why did you bring it up?"  
  
"I didn't mean to, but you should be able to figure it out."  
  
I looked at him, as though I was trying to find the answer on his face. He saw I was thinking hard so he said, "Just think, not too hard. Think about classes and meals. It'll come to you."  
  
I sat on the girl's dorm steps. I thought about how angry Ron was when I made Harry and mad me at dinner the night he said he was seeker. That didn't tell me anything, so I thought to our class earlier today, potions.  
  
I was partners with Dean. I remember I had a great time working with him. He cracked jokes at everything and they were all very funny. We spent the whole time talking, mostly about soccer, we both love the game, and laughing, paying little attention to our potion or the lesson. Then, I remembered when I looked over at Hermione to wave, I saw Ron behind her, looking angrily at Dean and muttering under his breath. Also, how Ron rushed over after class and insisted that I walked with him and Harry. He didn't want me to be by Dean, but by him instead. That could only mean.  
  
I looked at Harry. He smiled at me.  
  
"I knew you'd get it."  
  
I just stared at him. "Ron likes me?" I thought. "That's never happened to me before! I've always been Spencer's little sister." I looked away from Harry toward the portrait hole.  
  
Once outside, I rushed to find Ron. I listened for footsteps, but instead heard a muffled noise coming from behind a door. The door was opened slightly so it didn't make much noise. Inside was Ron, sitting on a desk facing the wall with his head in his hands. I tiptoed over to him and realized that he was crying. I walked a bit closer to him, but accidentally kicked a desk. He whipped around and I saw his tear-streaked face.  
  
"What?" he asked in a shaky voice.  
  
"I wanted to make sure you were o.k." I said, taking a step closer to him.  
  
"What? With you and Harry? I'm fine, I mean it's not like I care or anything," he spat angrily.  
  
"There's nothing between Harry and me, we're just friends. Good friends." I said, and it was true, Harry was now one of my best friends.  
  
"Very good friends. Too good of friends," Ron said as he stood up to face me.  
  
"Why, just because I hugged him, does it mean that I like him like that? If hugging means so much then," I said, stopping in the middle of my sentence. I walked over to Ron, wrapped my arms around his shoulders and gave him a quick hug. He looked a bit startled, then turned red.  
  
"So, you like me as a friend?" he asked.  
  
"Sure, why not?" I said in a teasing way.  
  
"Good, that's good," he said, looking at his feet.  
  
"Yeah, what say we go to the Great Hall, eh? Dinner should be starting shortly."  
  
"You're turning British on me, Aletta."  
  
"I am, aren't I?" 


End file.
